Noise from a quiet screen

People are more glued to their handheld devices as never before in the history of earth.

I guess because there was never a device that put together ways to collect and collate memories, and connect and communicate to others – all while being entertained or being the entertainment.

I enjoy using different divices for different purposes too. I know these technologies are helping us advance in so many ways.

Only it seems that most came into this virtual jungle unprepared – not just those who do not know how to use computers or the internet but also those who are not mature enough.

I believe there is a certain kind of maturity one needs to enter the jungle. One should be socially adept, emotionally stable, logical and creative and they have to have a sense of humor.

All too often, it feels like our lives are magnified in different social media platforms. We are the star of our own pages. We control what we post and who can view us (at least for the most part in the privacy settings).

But unlike traditional scrapbooks or diaries which can be viewed by you and other very special people, our social pages are for all our friends to see as long as they are scrolling down their feed.

Our opinions and comments are for all to view as well. As much as it can help our advocacies, random posts can also be part of an already chaotic virtual space.

The thing is, it does not only amplify our voices it also picks up on our insecurities, behavior and attitudes. A negative comment on a post can cause a war of words. If it happened outside our digital lives we would probably be hitting each other by now.

Or maybe we would shrug it off to avoid confrontation. I wonder how different or similar we are in our real and digital lives when it comes to talking to friends and family? To strangers?

We have become a global digital nation of bickering people. Fighting over little things. I see friends unfriending another friend because they did not agree on an opinion.

Did we become too touchy or we are just touchy to begin with?

Your posts and likes creates a stamp on who you are online and soon your feed only shows things you are interested in. It is ironic how the world wide web became too narrow.

If the real world is the same as the digital world I see on my screen, then it is a scary one. My feed are divided into two political opposing sides forever bickering, pointing at wrong, proving self-worth and relevance but never really an answer to anything.

But the scarier part is, there is a third group. People who do not seem to care. If the digital world is in the real world would they stop to offer a solution or will they shrug and go on their merry way?

Will there be a time again when these things will be old and we will be excited and engaged with something else? Maybe a cool off time with social media will do humanity good.

Or maybe in the future people will become more mature in using their social media accounts.

For now, if you are mature enough, hopefully you are using it to create a positive space. No fake news. No scams and spams. Just uplifting messages and well meaning, open-minded sharing of opinion.

Let us not be like those who are immature. Their screens and blank faces seem to reflect an often anxious (sometimes desperate) minds looking for means to escape but instead finding themselves pulled in a void of empty (borrowed from views) experiences.